Reference
- airplaneEarly attempts were made to build flying machines according to the principle of bird flight, but these failed; it was not until the beginning of the 20th cent. that flight in heavier-than-air craft was achieved. On Dec. 17, 1903, the Wright brothers produced the first manned, power-driven, heavier-than-air flying machine near Kitty Hawk, N.C. The first flight lasted 12 sec, but later flights on the same day were a little longer; a safe landing was made after each attempt. The machine was a biplane (an airplane with two main supporting surfaces, or wings) with two propellers chain-driven by a gasoline motor.
The evolution of the airplane engine has had a major effect upon aircraft design, which is closely associated with the ratio between power load (horsepower) and weight. The Wright brothers' first engine weighed about 12 lb (5.4 kg) per horsepower. The modern piston engine weighs about 1 lb (0.4 kg) or less per horsepower, and jet and gas-turbine engines are much lighter. With the use of jet engines and the resulting higher speeds, airplanes have become less dependent on large values of lift from the wings. Consequently, wings have been shortened and swept back so as to produce less drag, especially at supersonic speeds. In some cases these radically backswept wings have evolved into a single triangular lifting surface, known as a delta wing, that is bisected by the fuselage of the plane. Similar alterations have been made in the vertical and horizontal surfaces of the tail, again with the aim of decreasing drag.
For certain applications, e.g., short-haul traffic between small airports, it is desirable to have airplanes capable of operating from a runway of minimum length. Two approaches to the problem have been tried. One, the vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) approach, seeks to produce craft that take off and land like helicopters, but that can fly much faster. The other approach, short takeoff and landing (STOL), seeks to design more conventional aircraft that have reduced runway requirements. The lessened lift associated with swept-back wing designs increases the length of runway needed for takeoffs and landings. To keep runway lengths within reasonable limits the variable-sweep, or swing, wing has been developed. A plane of this type can extend its wings for maximum lift in taking off and landing, and swing them back for travel at high speeds.
A proposed variant of the swing wing, in which one wing sweeps to the rear and another forward, produces an arrangement that causes a minimum shock wave at supersonic speeds. It is thought that if this modification were applied to supersonic transport (SST) designs it would somewhat lessen their objectionable noise levels. No solution has been proposed to lessen their high fuel consumption, however. Recent developments in fan-jet engines, in which a turbine powers a set of vanes that drive air rearward to augment thrust, have made supersonic flight possible at low altitude. Much research has also gone into reducing the noise and air pollution caused by jet engines.
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Perspectives
What Makes Airplanes Fly?
Dealing with aerodynamics in the broadest sense, this book discusses, in addition to aeroplanes, the aerodynamics of cars and birds, and the motion of diverse objects through air and water. The fundamental notions of mechanics and fluid dynamics are clearly explained, while the underlying science is discussed rigorously, but using only elementary mathematics, and then only occasionally. To put the science into its human context, the author describes -- with many illustrations -- the history of human attempts to fly and discusses the social impact of commercial aviation as well as the outlook for future developments. This new edition has been brought up to date throughout; solutions to selected exercises have been added, as have new problems and other study aids.
Future Flight: the Next Generation of Aircraft Technology
Publisher's Note: Products purchased from Third Party sellers are not guaranteed by the publisher for quality, authenticity, or access to any online entitlements included with the product.
Stick and Rudder: an Explanation of the Art of Flying
The landing approach. How the pilot's eye functions in judging the approach. The visual clues by which an experienced pilot unconsciously judges: how you can quickly learn to use them. "The Spot that does not move." This is the first statement of this phenomenon. A foolproof method of making a landing approach across pole lines and trees. The elevator and the throttle. One controls the speed, the other controls climb and descent. Which is which? The paradox of the glide. By pointing the nose down less steeply, you descend more steeply. By pointing the nose down more steeply, you can glide further. What's the rudder for? The rudder does NOT turn the airplane the way a boat's rudder turns the boat. Then what does it do? How a turn is flown. The role of ailerons, rudder, and elevator in making a turn. The landing--how it's made. The visual clues that tell you where the ground is. The "tail-dragger" landing gear and what's tricky about it. This is probably the only analysis of tail-draggers now available to those who want to fly one. The tricycle landing gear and what's so good about it. A strong advocacy of the tricycle gear written at a time when almost all civil airplanes were taildraggers. Why the airplane doesn't feel the wind. Why the airplane usually flies a little sidewise. Plus: a chapter on Air Accidents by Leighton Collins, founder and editor of AIR FACTS. His analyses of aviation's safety problems have deeply influenced pilots and aeronautical engineers and have contributed to the benign characteristics of today's airplane. Stick and Rudder is the first exact analysis of the art of flying ever attempted. It has been continously in print for thirty-three years. It shows precisely what the pilot does when he flies, just how he does it, and why. Because the basics are largely unchanging, the book therefore is applicable to large airplanes and small, old airplanes and new, and is of interest not only to the learner but also to the accomplished pilot and to the instructor himself.
The Airplane
The inside story of how people invented and refined the airplane. Who were aviation's dreamers and from where did they draw their inspiration? What lessons did inventors learn from birds, insects, marine mammals, and fish that helped us fly? How did the bicycle lead to the airplane, and hot water heaters to metal fuselages?And who figured out how to fly without seeing the ground, setting the stage for scheduled airline services in all weather conditions? In this entertaining history of the jetliner, Jay Spenser follows the flow of simple yet powerful ideas to trace aviation's challenges. He introduces us to pioneers across continents and centuries, sheds new insights on their contributions, and evokes those key moments in history when, piece by piece, such innovators as Otto Lilienthal, Igor Sikorsky, Louis Blériot, Hugo Junkers, and Jack Northrop collectively solved the puzzle of flight. Along the way, Spenser demystifies the modern jetliner. From wings to flight controls to fuselages to landing gear, he examines the parts of the airplane to show how they came into being and have evolved over time. The Airplane culminates in a discussion of Boeing's 787 Dreamliner and explores the possibilities for aviation's future.
PBS Illustrated Guide to Aerodynamics 2/e
Products purchased from Third Party sellers are not guaranteed by the publisher for quality, authenticity, or access to any online entitlements included with the product. The principles of flight made easy to understand, even fascinating, to pilots and technicians Most pilots and flight students wince at the mention of the term "aerodynamics" because most courses and books dealing with the subject do so using complicated scientific theory and intricate mathematical formulas. And yet, an understanding of aerodynamics is essential to the people who operate and maintain airplanes. This unique introductory guide, which sold more than 20,000 copies in its first edition, proves that the principles of flight can be easy to understand, even fascinating, to pilots and technicians who want to know how and why an aircraft behaves as it does. Avoiding technical jargon and complex calculations, Hubert "Skip" Smith demonstrates how aerodynamic factors affect all aircraft in terms of lift, thrust, drag, in-air performance, stability, and control. Readers also get an inside look at how modern aircraft are designed-including all the steps in the design process, from concept to test flight and the reasoning behind them. This edition features expanded coverage of aircraft turning and accelerated climb performance, takeoff velocities, load and velocity-load-factors, area rules, and hypersonic flight, as well as the latest advances in laminar flow airfoils, wing and fuselage design, and high-performance lightplanes. Question and answer sections are added for classroom use.
Brace for Impact
What Passengers of Flight 1549 Want Others to Know About Second Chances "Brace for impact." Three simple words that proclaimed to all 150 passengers on board US Airways Flight 1549 on that cold, crisp New York afternoon of January 15, 2009, that their plane was about to go down in the icy Hudson River. Three simple words that churned up their fear that the next two minutes would be their final moments on earth and spurred their most heartfelt, spontaneous prayers. We all know about the stunning tale of survival against all odds that followed. But there is a different, more meaningful, and more timely story that has yet to be fully told. What happened to these passengers when they went home to their families, their homes, their jobs, and everything else familiar but somehow not the same? What has been the real impact, not of a disastrous crash but of a gift of a 'new' life? What can any of us learn from the honest and open sharing of ordinary people who came back from the brink of death? Brace for Impact answers these questions and more by taking you inside the hearts, minds, and souls of twenty-five passengers and first responders and what life is like after near death.
The Growth of Airports
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The first air fields were more concerned with utility than comfort. In the early years, tents were the only amenities set up for the enthusiastic crowds who flocked to watch aviators' daring exploits. During the war, open fields provided a runway, and hangars stored maintenance gear and airplanes.
The Boeing 787
- Kanopy This link opens in a new windowThe Boeing 787 may not look different, but according to it's manufacturers it is a revolution in air travel and will help preserve the natural resources of the planet. Similar to the Airbus A380, the plane is made from carbon-fiber reinforced plastics and aluminum glass fiber materials which are lighter and more resistant to fatigue. It is one of many planes that have been developed to reduce the carbon footprint while at the same time improving space, comfort and entertainment for passengers on long voyages.
The First Decades of Aviation
- Kanopy This link opens in a new windowThe first decades of aviation brought both triumph and tragedy. To fly an early airplane required skill, courage and daring. A new breed of adventurers looked to the heavens for their challenges, and thrilled audiences around the world. The advent of the movie camera meant that their exploits could be broadcast to every corner of the globe, and recorded for posterity. Several of the world's great aviators learned their craft in the bloodbath that was the Great War. The pilots of Germany, France and Britain who were able to master combat flying in time to prevent an early death were known as "Air Aces."
Online Resources
- Flight of an aeroplane with solid-state propulsionSince the first aeroplane flight more than 100 years ago, aeroplanes have been propelled using moving surfaces such as propellers and turbines. Most have been powered by fossil-fuel combustion. Electroaerodynamics, in which electrical forces accelerate ions in a fluid , has been proposed as an alternative method of propelling aeroplanes-without moving parts, nearly silently and without combustion emissions . However, no aeroplane with such a solid-state propulsion system has yet flown. Here we demonstrate that a solid-state propulsion system can sustain powered flight, by designing and flying an electroaerodynamically propelled heavier-than-air aeroplane. We flew a fixed-wing aeroplane with a five-metre wingspan ten times and showed that it achieved steady-level flight. All batteries and power systems, including a specifically developed ultralight high-voltage (40-kilovolt) power converter, were carried on-board. We show that conventionally accepted limitations in thrust-to-power ratio and thrust density , which were previously thought to make electroaerodynamics unfeasible as a method of aeroplane propulsion, are surmountable. We provide a proof of concept for electroaerodynamic aeroplane propulsion, opening up possibilities for aircraft and aerodynamic devices that are quieter, mechanically simpler and do not emit combustion emissions.
- Innovation in the Absence of Principled Knowledge: The Case of the Wright BrothersAlthough the Wright Brothers are most famous for achieving the first successful manned powered flight, their innovation that had a revolutionary effect on airplane design was a plane capable of making banked turns. Yet this appears to have been an unintended by‐product of their effort to maximize control, in contrast to the efforts of competitors to maximize stability. The success of the Wright Brothers in this effort can be attributed to their taking an approach that was on one hand well adapted to the low state of aeronautical knowledge existing at the time but that on the other hand was committed to the construction and pursuit of principled knowledge. This involved the use of analogies, not as a source of problem solutions but as an aid in developing theory‐like principles. It also involved sequences of increasingly realistic experiments. Their approach contrasts with that of J.P. Langley, who took what has become a traditional R&D or ‘theory‐into‐practice’ approach, dependent on a high level of principled knowledge. This history yields several suggestions, not radical in themselves, about how radical advances may be made in knowledge‐poor fields, which are still common today, especially in the human sciences.
Flying at the Speed of Sound
- Kanopy This link opens in a new windowFlying at the speed of sound doesn't seem lime the type of thing that was possible in the 1960's, but that was when traditional rivals Britain and France collaborated to build the world's first Concorde, a jet that could traverse the Atlantic in just 3 hours, at twice the speed of sound, around about 1400 miles an hour.
The all-metal Trident jet was a popular choice for airlines but couldn't compete with the glamour and allure of the Concorde. However, its inception wasn't without its complications. Britain and France squabbled over many aspects of its design, including the spelling of the name, eventually adopting the "e" on the end as a tribute to "Excellence and England."